Below are PAN’s recommendations for Budget 2026, which would support the implementation of BC’s Viral Hepatitis Roadmap.
Introduction
PAN is a provincial network of 40+ community-based organizations joined by a shared vision of an effective, inspired network responding to HIV, viral hepatitis, other STBBIs and promoting access to harm reduction. We provide training, leadership development, and research and evaluation initiatives. A critical focus of our work is on promoting health equity within small urban, rural and remote communities. Our BC-wide approach to advocacy centres the voices of people with lived experience (PWLE).
This budget submission reflects key recommendations that are found within the province’s Viral Hepatitis Elimination Roadmap (‘the Roadmap’).
Recommendation 1
Increase funding for provincial laboratories to be able to provide hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) point of care (POCT) and dried blood spot (DBS) testing thereby increasing the accessibility and timeliness of diagnosis and linkage to care.
In BC, viral hepatitis poses a significant health burden, affecting tens of thousands. Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are major causes of both mortality and morbidity. The challenges presented by viral hepatitis and the impacts on our health care system and on lives are considerable. Despite the challenges, PAN members and our partners within public health believe that with sufficient political will and the strategic use of resources and innovation, we can eradicate this threat.
PAN and our members have actively supported the BC Centres for Disease Control (BCCDC) in the creation of the Viral Hepatitis Elimination Roadmap (‘the Roadmap’), which is now in final review at the Ministry of Health with an expected release in July 205. The Roadmap is an important new public health policy that contains measurable targets and tailored recommendations that will achieve the elimination of hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) virus as public health threats in BC by 2030.
A leading recommendation identified within the Roadmap is to increase access to low-barrier, community-based screening and testing, and integrate Dried Blood Spot (DBS) specimens and antibody point-of-care test (POCT), into the existing provincial HIV POCT program. Testing for HBV and HCV is crucial because both viruses can lead to serious liver damage and increased risk of liver cancer. Early detection allows for timely treatment and management, preventing or delaying the progression to chronic liver disease and related complications.
Increasing funding and capacity for provincial laboratories to provide test kits, along with the development and implementation of provincial clinical practice guidelines for the expansion of POCT for HIV to include HCV and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) testing, will be a game changer, particularly for remote, rural and underserved communities that don’t otherwise have access.
Recommendation 2
Provide funding to create/enhance “on the ground” capacity for integration of HBV and HCV testing and linkage to care and treatment into community-level programs and services where people affected by these viruses already access care e.g. CBO’s, peer outreach services and harm reduction sites.
The need for STBBI prevention strategies, harm reduction, and the reduction of substance related harms alongside multidisciplinary viral hepatitis services is high. STBBI prevention and harm reduction strategies that focus on engaging priority populations are essential, including peer support, harm reduction workers, training, education, and screening. With an unprecedented rate of new syphilis infections and with new HIV infections also on the rise, providing wrap-around care and treatment STBBIs, inclusive of viral hepatitis, is critical.
A key Roadmap recommendation is to develop training and programming for peers, harm reduction workers and other community/front line staff so that they may in turn provide STBBI screening and link clients to care pathways. This will help achieve viral hepatitis elimination as well as STBBI control goals.
PAN members and allied CBOs already excel at meeting people where they are at, in providing culturally appropriate information, supports and relational care. Through our annual member and allies surveys, our monthly member meetings and other feedback mechanisms, we have documented significant and growing interest in implementing or expanding viral hepatitis testing (DBS and POCT) and linkage to care at the community level, including by and for peers/PWLE.
Along with funding to increase the capacity of provincial laboratories to provide test kits, funding to educate and train front line service providers on testing and care pathways and integrating viral hepatitis with existing services, is a cost-effective approach. Decentralized testing through POCT or DBS – where testing comes to the person; and linkage to care and referral services – particularly when delivered by trusted community members – will significantly strengthen the province’s elimination efforts in remote/underserved communities and/or among priority populations and the “hard to reach”.
Questions? Contact J Evin Jones, Executive Director: [email protected]